115 Named to AD's Spring Honor Roll

URBANA, Ohio (May 15, 2013) - In the fall, Urbana University student-athletes posted the most successful academic semester since records were kept. A school-record 121 student-athletes made the Athletic Director’s Fall Honor Roll. Never before had more than 100 Blue Knights landed on the Honor Roll. Now, after the spring semester, the Blue Knights can boast back-to-back triple digit numbers on the AD's Honor Roll.

A total of 115 student-athletes maintained a GPA of 3.25 or higher and enrolled in at least 12 credit hours in the spring to earn this distinction.

The top academic squads in the fall were the men’s swimming team (3.2 GPA) and women’s cross country team (3.67). Both teams repeated their feat in the spring, and both squads improved upon their cumulative GPA. The men's swim team posted an impressive 3.33 team GPA, while the women's cross country team nearly pulled off perfection at 3.85.

The Blue Knight football team had the most representatives on the Honor Roll with 24. The women’s soccer team had the most representatives on the women’s side with 13 for the second straight semester. The 115 total members were made up of 60 men and 55 women.

In overall cumulative GPA, the Blue Knight women topped the Blue Knight men 3.12 to 2.75. As a whole, the student-athlete populous posted a 2.87 GPA, which is a new Athletic Department record, but still shy of the goal of attaining an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0.

Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Jim Judge Jr. is a big reason for the recent upward trend in student-athlete GPA’s at Urbana University. Dr. Judge is the link between the UU faculty and coaches. He helped devise a system that allows for consistent communication between these two parties. His relentless pursuit of feedback provides coaches with a constant stream of information about their student-athletes’ performance in the classroom. Coaches are using this information to ensure their student-athletes are attending class and keeping their grades up.

As a result of all of the hard work by Dr. Judge, the Blue Knight coaches and the student-athletes, an incredible 22 Blue Knights posted perfect 4.0 grade point averages this past fall (10 men, 12 women). That’s just 6 shy of the school record set in the fall. The football team and women's soccer team tied with 3 student-athletes apiece with perfect 4.0 GPA's in the spring.

A complete list of the 115 student-athletes on the AD's 2013 Spring Honor Roll are below.